B.C. film asks: Would you make the ultimate sacrifice to save the planet?

What would you do to save the planet and help ensure it can sustain future generations? Would you make the ultimate sacrifice?

That question is at the heart of Vancouver‘s Ann Marie Fleming’s film Can I Get a Witness, which hits Canadian theatres on March 14.

Set in 2050, the film explores life 25 years after society, in hopes of saving the struggling planet, has agreed to an end-of-life contract that sees 50-year-olds essentially get put down while teenage artists document it.

The central story here is the approaching death of Ellie played by Sandra Oh just at the time that her daughter Kiah, played by New Westminster actor Keira Jang, is officially on-boarded as one of the teen artists that documents the deaths.

“It’s a dystopian future in which all the world’s problems are solved by making one huge sacrifice,” said Jang, who recently won the Telefilm One to Watch Award at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards.

“It’s a world that I don’t necessarily want to live in … This is not a real future that we want to propose, but it’s an interesting take on a future that we’ve never seen. Just because, normally, it’s all this high-tech things that we envision in the future, but we’ve really stripped it back and gone … to the bare minimum.”

The bare minimum she speaks of is a 2050 that visually looks familiar but is without our current excesses. There are power shortages, no cellphones and collective memory is dying with degrading digital files. The film is quiet. There’s no marauding dystopic violence. Heck, no one even raises their voice. It’s a film that interestingly nudges the viewer toward quiet contemplation amid such loud, precarious times.

“It is one of those films that is a different experience to be able to see it with others in the dark on the big screen,” said Fleming, who previously worked with Oh on the animated film Window Horses. “It’s about a communal experience. That’s what the film is about … it’s quite emotional. There’s a lot of silences, and to experience silence with people is so different than experiencing it by yourself.

“When Ellie is standing out in the field, contemplating leaving this life, and all you hear is her breathing, the theatre is completely silent. You don’t even hear other people breathing. It’s amazing,” said Fleming, who won best director in the Canadian/B.C. film category for Can I Get a Witness at the recent Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards.

For Oh, the conceit of 50-year-olds having to die is fascinating and comes with big questions.

“It’s a concept that is daring and challenging. Because, probably for all of us who are on this call, 50 is a very vital time in your life … I bet you people who are 65 would say the same,” said Oh, speaking over Zoom with Fleming and Postmedia News. “It posits the question; ‘How much would you sacrifice if it meant that the world could continue on in a peaceful and a harmonious and a balanced way?’

“The film talks about the giving up of resources in electricity, power, travel, electronics, a certain type of communication, and just those small things. What would I give up? … I think the question of leaving at 50 just opens up the question of what you would sacrifice in your own daily life now to make it better for the next generation.”